AZ's Missed Opportunities Against Sunderland in Europa League
AZ left the Stadium of Light with nothing but regret, and in the Ziggo Sport studio Khalid Boulahrouz didn’t bother to sugar-coat it.
A 1-0 defeat to Sunderland in their Europa League opener, despite a stack of chances, left the former defender bristling. The focus quickly settled on one moment, one striker, one miss: Mexx Meerdink, ten minutes from time, clean through and with the goal begging.
He hesitated. And that was enough.
Instead of burying the ball, Meerdink delayed, took an extra touch, and drove his shot into the outstretched leg of goalkeeper Robin Roefs. The equaliser slipped away, and with it, AZ’s reward for an enterprising performance.
“At this level, at least one of them has to go in,” Boulahrouz snapped, looking back over AZ’s wasted opportunities. When he got to Meerdink’s late chance, his tone hardened. “This chance from Meerdink. It is just hit too weakly, low to the ground. If you are ruthless, you just smash it into the roof of the net.”
Theo Janssen had already framed it bluntly in the studio: a striker has to become a killer. Boulahrouz picked up that line and drove it home. For a forward with ambitions of reaching the Netherlands national team, these are the moments that define you.
“Delaying it once more, taking another touch, that means you are not quite in the right position yourself,” Boulahrouz said. “Because of that, you can no longer strike it the way you want. This is simply wasting a 100 per cent chance.”
The irritation was clear. For him, it wasn’t just about one miss, but about a pattern. “These are things he really has to cut out. Looking at the whole match, he was simply too sloppy, not good as a focal point... And the chances he got, you have to finish them.”
On the pitch, Meerdink had already worn the look of a man who knew. In front of the cameras afterwards, he didn’t hide.
“I think at some moments I lost the ball a bit too easily, but I also had a number of good moments,” he reflected. “My area for development is that I have to keep doing it consistently.” He didn’t argue with the analysis from the studio either. “That ball at the end, I have to smash it in. Not think and just hit it with the instep. In the box I have to be, become, deadly.”
The word “deadly” kept returning. The analysts weren’t letting it go.
Janssen, listening to Meerdink’s self-assessment, actually grew more critical. The content of the interview bothered him almost as much as the miss.
“Interesting. He has the feeling that he still played quite a decent match. He is quite satisfied,” Janssen said, eyebrows raised. “I would advise him to calmly watch this match back again, because it comes down to a number of moments in which, as a striker, you have to be deadly and in which you have to be strong to give your team some calm. Those few moments are not enough, my friend.”
Then came the sting wrapped in praise.
“He is a very enjoyable footballer, he is technically refined, has all the attributes to be a good player,” Janssen concluded. “Only he lacks that hunger. You have to do everything for it. He must always give everything for it, and I miss that a little with him sometimes. He has so much potential, but he is not getting everything out of it.”
AZ will feel this opening-night defeat as a missed opportunity in every sense. For the team, it was a game to take control of the group. For Meerdink, it was the kind of evening that can accelerate a career or stall it.
The chances were there. The scrutiny is now.
